The crowd went into a morbid grown.

As the black-haired man finished brushing the last bits of soot off his shoulders, the voice behind the radio continued in a jolly tone

“Now, now, don’t be like that! Here’s some good news for you. So that this game doesn’t become too mundane, we’ve equipped each person on the island with a watch and a special power”

The black-haired man looked down at his wrist to find a rubber watch with a single number ‘3’ displayed on its digital interface.

“The watch on your wrist indicates the number of lives you have remaining and once your counter hits zero you will be dead. Oh! And by the way it lets us keep track of where each person is in the island. Nifty isn’t it?”

‘This has got be a joke…’ thought the black-haired man, as his face convulsed of disgust. ‘Just who does this guy think he is?’

The crowd shouted in revolt, one lady made her opinion wholeheartedly clear.

“Who the fuck do you think you are kidnapping us putting us in your game like mice?”

“Yeah let us out!” screeched another “I’m going to sue you so hard when I get outta here buddy you better have your ass ready—”

“You all must be pretty confused and skeptical at the moment about your memories and your positions, but once this game begins the cogs will begin to turn themselves and you will feel just like at home! So here is another piece of advice for those souls who are a little befuddled” The voice paused to build suspense

“Don’t. Trust. Anyone.”

Many of the faces in the crowd convulsed of both anger and anxiety as people began looking around nervously and the tension in the air grew so thick that you could probably slice it with a butter knife.

“After this message is over, the factory doors will open and you will gain access to your surroundings and resources. As another rule of the game, those who leave the factory will be given a 24-hour gift period to adapt to their environment. Use this time as you please, but note that you cannot be killed during this time. At the ring of the second morning bell, the real game will have begun...”

The black-haired man scanned his surroundings more deeply now. His eyes weren’t hazed anymore; rather they exuded an unearthly glow of attentiveness.

“Whether you think this is a joke or not, is up to you, but one thing is certain...” the voice iterated one final time “you will aide us in our little game... to find... BBZZZZZTTT”

The radio stopped buzzing, and the rest of the audio grew inaudible but you could hear a faint chuckle on the other end before the voice completely flagged.

In exact complement to the radio, a loud ‘CLANK’ reverberated throughout the room, which implied the metallic gear on gear interactions facilitating a mechanical motion of some sort. Gradually, as the floodlights began to dim, a new light sliced open the innards of the factory. Two twenty-foot wooden doors, once invisible and unnoticed, creaked open on one side of the factory ever so slowly. That was when the first bell rung.

“DDDDDOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNN—”

As the doors reached the terminus of its rotation, there was an air of absolute silence. Then as if a small spark had hit a gunpowder stock, the crowd erupted into a rush of unrest. Yelling and screaming, some were caught in the surge of the crowd, others, trampled in the turmoil of the fervor. All moved but a small black-haired man stood and watched from the side. Hands in his pockets, he just watched... until a voice called beside him, a girl’s voice.

“Hey!” It rang with a sweet euphony. “Why aren’t you running?”

The girl’s cheeks were about as red as her hair. She had the same one-piece hospital gown on. “Don’t you want to know what the hell is going on here?!”

His head didn’t so much as flinch at the question. He remained as neutral as ever, and just closed his eyes. It was almost as if he was in a deep train of thought. When he finally opened his sable eyes and turned toward the women, he gandered so deep that she took a step back almost as if by instinct. Like a fox had set its eye on a lone fragile game.

“Hey it’s your loss…” She said as she backed away.

He then pointed to the crowd of fleeting people. She followed his finger. In the motley of chaos and confusion you could make out some immotile figures. They were people squashed and mutilated by the disarray. People were in a frenzy.

“Get out of my way!” “You get out of my way! I need to see my wife!”

The man with the black hair finally replied in a very thoughtful manner “The voice behind the radio was right when it claimed that we can’t die in the next 24 hours, however it forgot to emphasize on one more important factor...” He paused and gave the girl a pinch on her shoulder, “Hey!” “You can still pain… pain for example of the heels of hundreds of people on your back... the pain of not having been put to rest under normal circumstances… and I would rather not have to go through such a testing ordeal...”

Isabelle composed herself and took note of the man’s sharp wit and scooted closer.

“My name by the way is Isabelle and by the looks of it, I have no idea how I ended up in this dump.” She extended her hand in courteousness. The man looked at her hand, but showed no intention of shaking it. He instead replied in an almost lackadaisical manner.

“Call me… Edward, Edward D. Lawson. Now if you’ll excuse me, the crowd has thinned out, and I must see to this new world that I have been called to”

The lady kept a keen eye on him as he strutted past her. “How arrogant!” she whispered. She followed closely but without a sound. And then, almost as if planned, swiftly took out a keened shard of glass from her back pocket- it’s edge keener than a freshly sharpened blade. Her hand drooled of crimson colored blood, and her rose like cheeks turned pale and stoic as she thought to herself ‘if the voice behind the radio is correct… then it won't hurt to thin out the crowd here and there…’

A few steps later Edward came to an abrupt stop, almost as if he had forgot something. He didn’t care to take a glance back, because his voice would do so for him.

“And by the miss, please put that shard of glass away, it is rather fruitless, if I know it’s coming, you won’t be able to hit me...”

Shocked, the shard fell out of Isabelle’s hand and shattered into a million crystalline pieces on the cold dark floor of the factory, much like Isabelle’s calm persona. Edward pivoted his head back at the startled woman and smiled in doing so.

“Well at least not anymore”